Who Will Headline UFC: White House Event? Odds Released

The initial odds have been released for who will headline President Trump’s proposed UFC event at the White House to celebrate the 250th birthday of the Declaration of Independence next year.

And the oddsmakers are currently predicting that Dustin Poirier won’t in fact retire as planned after a ‘BMF’ title fight against Max Holloway at UFC 318 in Louisiana later this month, and instead is now the +250 favorite to front the White House show in 2026.

The 36-year-old Poirier appears to fit the bill given that he’s a famous fighter, particularly thanks to his two back-to-back victories over Conor McGregor back in 2021, and meanwhile is also from a more political perspective is also considered one of the sport’s good guys as a family man who was done a lot of work for charity over the course of his UFC career.

Not far behind him in the odds at +300 is actually his next opponent, former long-time featherweight champion and current ‘BMF’ titleholder Max Holloway, another legendary figure in the sport and a true fan-favorite.

There could be a case to be made that Holloway should be in pole position here for the White House spot given that he’s not signalled any intention of retiring after his next fight, but Poirier has beaten him twice in the past, and Trump is known to be a fan of ‘The Diamond’, having called him, “a great fighter.”

As things stand then it seems that the outcome of the third meeting between these two could have big implications beyond just who goes home with the symbolic ‘BMF’ title.

But what about the other fighters on the oddmakers list?

Well, next up is former bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley, who comes in at +400 thanks to his star power and dangerous striking style, despite the fact he’s coming off back-to-back title defeats against Merab Dvalishvili.

And trailing closely behind is former ‘BMF’ titleholder Justin Gaethje at +450, another exciting fighter who has recent history with both Poirier and Holloway, and is known to be a Trump fan.

Beyond that the candidates become more questionable, with Sean Brady at +550 appearing to be somewhat unlikely given that while he’s an impressive 8-1 in his UFC run so far, he doesn’t have the star power that you’d expect to lead an event of this historic significance.

And then things really start to get wacky with Sean Strickland at +600, which seems like the ultimate political hot-potato given his wildly outspoken views and trouble-making tendencies. That being said, the oddsmakers still find him a far more likely candidate than another out-there character, Bryce ‘Hitler was a good guy’ Mitchell, who has the widest odds of all the fighters at +7500.

Back in the realms of at least some kind of plausibility is Jon Jones, though at +800 it’s clear that there’s a great deal of skeptism regarding whether his sudden decision to go back into the drug-testing pool just two weeks after retiring actually means that’s he’s serious about returning. And on top of that, his chequered past with criminal charges, police run-ins, PED’s and drugs suggests he might be too problematic for this occasion.

Speaking of which, Conor McGregor is even further behind at +1000. It is worth noting though that as a big fan of the fighter, Donald Trump seemed happy to turn a blind eye to the superstar’s problematic past and erratic behavior, including recently losing a civil rape trial, when he welcomed him to the White House earlier in the year. Given his love of being in the spotlight it’s no surprise that the 36-year-old McGregor has already signalled his interest in fighting at this proposed event, but we’ve heard this kind of talk from him many times over the past four years, yet he’s still never actually stepped back into the Octagon.

Check out the full fighters list from the oddsmakers below.

Dustin Poirier +250
Max Holloway +300
Sean O’Malley +400
Justin Gaethje +450
Sean Brady +550
Sean Strickland +600
Jon Jones +800
Conor McGregor +1000
Merab Dvalishvili +1000
Paddy Pimblett +1200
Tom Aspinall +1400
Leon Edwards +1600
Islam Makhachev +2000
Ilia Topuria +2500
Cory Sandhagen +2500
Colby Covington +3300
Kayla Harrison +3300
Bryce Mitchell +7500